November Spanish Marian Masses for Puerto Rico, Nicaragua Set for St. Patrick’s Cathedral

St. Patrick’s Cathedral will host two Spanish Marian Masses in November to honor Our Lady of Providence and La Purísima. The celebrations are scheduled for Nov. 15 and Nov. 29.

Auxiliary Bishop Tomas Gonzalez of San Juan, Puerto Rico, will serve as the principal celebrant and homilist for the Mass of Our Lady of Providence on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 4 p.m. This Mass commemorates the 44th anniversary of the first Providence Mass held at the cathedral.

Our Lady of Divine Providence is the patroness of Puerto Rico. On Nov. 19, 1969, Pope Paul VI declared her patroness, selecting the date to coincide with the anniversary of the island's discovery by European explorers. The devotion is centered on a 16th-century oil painting by Scipione Pulzone titled Divinae Providentiae, which depicts the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus.